''Iru Sahodarargal'' (also spelled as ''Iru Sakodarargal''; ) is a 1936 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Ellis R. Dungan Ellis Roderick Dungan (May 11, 1909 – December 1, 2001) was an American film director, who was well known for working in Indian films, predominantly in Tamil cinema, from 1936 to 1950. He was an alumnus of the University of Southern Californi ...

. This was the second film for

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

(later Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

) and Dungan. This film cemented the reputation of Dungan as the most successful Tamil film director of that period. It is one of the earliest Tamil films to be set in a contemporary social setting. No print of the film is known to survive, making it a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

Plot

Vijayakumar and Sukumar (K. P. Kesavan) are brothers. Sukumar, the younger brother is an actor and goes to

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

to earn a living. There he gets a break and becomes famous. The money he sends for his family's upkeep is stolen by Vijayakumar and his wife. Because of their greed, the joint family gets split. After some time, the wayward brother and sister in law have a change of heart and repent for their actions. The family is once again reunited.

Cast and crew

*P. K. Kesavan — Sukumar *K. K. Perumal *M. M. Radhabai *T. S. Krishnaveni *T. S. Balaiah *S. N. Vijayalakshmi *P. G. Venkatesan *S. N. Kannamani *

*M. G. Chakrapani *

– Director * S. D. S. Yogi- Story, Screenplay and Lyrics *Parur S Anantharaman — Music *Gopalaswami — Music *S. K. Murthy — Art Direction

Production

''Iru Sahodarargal'' was produced by Parameshwaran Chettiar of

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

under the banner of Parameshwar Sound Pictures. It was shot at Saroj Movie tone studios at

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. This was the second film for Dungan after ''Sathi Leelavathi''(1935). K. P. Kesavan, a stage actor, was cast as hero.

(credited as G. Ramachandran) was cast as a policeman along with his brother M. G. Chakrapani. Dungan cast seventy-year-old Alamelu Ammal to play the role of the grandmother to lend realism to the role. The screenplay and lyrics were written by Tamil scholar and poet S.D.S. Yogi

Reception

The film was released in 1936 at the Elphinstone Cinema House, Madras. It was a modest box office success. It was one of the earliest Tamil films to have a family oriented story. The art magazine ''Aadal paadal'' in its January 1937 issue appreciated the film for its social setting and pointed it out as an example for the success of social themed films. Congress leader

S. Satyamurti Sundara Sastri Satyamurti (19 August 1887 – 28 March 1943) was an Indian independence activist and politician. He was acclaimed for his rhetoric and was one of the leading politicians of the Indian National Congress from the Madras Presidenc ...

arranged a special screening for

Rajaji Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian independence ...

at the Elphinstone theatre . Rajaji was impressed by the film and appreciated it. The proceeds of the show he attended were donated to the Patel Purse Fund to finance the nationalist cause. Reviewing the film in ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...

'' on 3 January 1937,

Kalki Krishnamurthy Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy (9 September 1899 – 5 December 1954), better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future i ...

wrote :

References

External links

* * {{Ellis R. Dungan 1936 films 1930s Tamil-language films 1930s Indian films Lost Indian films Films directed by Ellis R. Dungan Indian black-and-white films 1936 lost films